A groundbreaking study published in Nature Medicine has shed new light on the aging process, revealing that our organs are not aging at the same rate as we are. Researchers at Stanford Medicine have discovered a “biological age” for each organ system, which can serve as an early indicator of disease risk.
The study, led by Tony Wyss-Coray, analyzed data from 45,000 participants aged 40 to 70 and found that some organs were aging faster than others. The researchers used advanced laboratory technology to measure the levels of nearly 3,000 proteins in each participant’s blood, which served as a proxy for individual organ condition.
The study revealed that one-third of participants had at least one organ with an “extremely aged” or “extremely youthful” biological age, meaning their organs were either significantly older or younger than expected. The researchers found that having an extremely aged brain was strongly associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, while an extremely youthful brain was linked to reduced risk.
The study also showed that the algorithm predicting biological age could be used to identify individuals at high risk of developing certain diseases, such as heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. This new approach could lead to personalized medicine and earlier intervention before symptoms appear.
Wyss-Coray believes this method has the potential to revolutionize healthcare, shifting from “sick care” to “health care” by identifying individuals at high risk of organ-specific diseases. The test is expected to be available for research purposes within two to three years, with plans for commercialization in the future.
Source: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/07/brain-mortality.html